The Benefits of Being Bilingual “My Spanish Standoff” by Gabriella Kuntz explains how the fear of prejudice against Latin America in the United States led her and her husband to avoid speaking and teaching their children Spanish. One reason that she decides not to teach her native language to her children is because she saw how the Anglo-Saxons in the community treated her because of her dark complexion, brown eyes and black hair. Another reason, she mentions involves the fact that her children developed accents and were unable to understand either language completely. Because of this, Kuntz decides only to speak to them in English to prevent others from criticizing her children for speaking with broken grammar and thick accents. She believes
As Zentella has studied within these three families, she finds an assortment of variation, even in individuals that come from the same family. The author argues that children coming from similar backstories range differently in their expertise in the language of their immigrated parents and the standard language of their residency. She concludes that because each family’s outlook on learning a second language and each individual’s preference challenges one another, one’s ability to learn a second language varies as well; there is no solid explanation as to why some people from the same background are more advanced in Spanish rather than English, and vice versa. Most people would not have taken into account of all the different contributions that this author describes, including gender, social preference, location, and personal beliefs. The common person would assume that acquiring a second language is possible for these families because they are surrounded by it, and that they would be able to maintain both their primary and secondary language. However, the author does analyze the contrasting opinion through observing the differences found in her study. She finds that the development of each person greatly varies to where each has different learning abilities and preferences. Where they live, whom they are in contact with, gender, and even their own personal behavior affects their unique growth. Since all have varying opinions, their decisions and values are placed accordingly to their own desire; in conclusion, these are all major factors in how people’s language skills
My mother and father are native Spanish speakers; they came to America when they were in there 20s. My father learned English better than my mom because he worked in hotel resorts and restaurants as a server so
The process is stated to occur as following: first of all, some individuals of the first immigrant generations learn English, but they generally prefer to speak their native language, especially at home. Thus, their children (the second generations) usually grow up as bilinguals, but many of them prefer English, even in communicating with their first-generation parents (Lopez, 1996). Consequently, by the third generations, the prevalent pattern is English monolingualism, and knowledge of the mother tongue is fragmentary. Portes and Rumbaut ( 2005) elaborated this occurrence as “By the third generation, foreign languages were a distant memory and ethnic identities were social conveniences, displayed on selected occasions but subordinate to overwhelming American selves” (p.986).
In the United States, it is important for a person to speak English fluently because it is the official language in America and everybody communicates in English. Many people believe that English should be the only language in America and that sometimes people may face prejudice when they speak English with an accent. For some parents, the fear of prejudice makes them decided not to teach their children their native tongue. On the other hand, there are many other reasons why some parents want to teach their children their native tongue. Gabriela Kuntz explains in My Spanish Standoff why she did not allow her children to speak Spanish at home. Kuntz’s explanations are acceptable, but some research studies reveal that most young children can
Over the most recent years it has been noted that about half of the most recent generation of Latinos don’t know or never learned how to speak Spanish. Not knowing Spanish while being Latina really bring up a lot of problems for me. Everywhere I go fellow Latino’s will speak Spanish to me, and then it get super awkward when I have to tell them that I don’t speak Spanish. The immediate response is to curse my parents and family for not teaching me how to speak it, some even going as far as to say that I’m a disgrace to our culture. I’m not the only one affected by this- my younger brother and some of my cousins as well as my friends are in the same boat as I am. In America, pretty much everyone here is assumed to know and speak English- which
Speaking English only in America does not minimize the language barrier of the diverse Americans that live in this country. Many millions of Americans come from Spanish speaking countries, are they less American than those that were born in the United States just because they only speak Spanish. America needs to embrace the second language rather than shun it because it can be very beneficial. Spanish should be encouraged in educational systems and government agencies because millions of Americans speak Spanish at home, it promotes an acceptable lane of communications with others, and it also caters to a great amount of Americans.
Parents were told by school administrators and teachers to stop teaching their children Spanish or stop speaking at home in order for their children to learn English faster or easier (MMM 20:45). A part of this though, wasn’t just about learning the English language. People often thought that being able to be bilingual was a sign or cause of mental retardation (MMM 19:00). With these facts being the common rhetoric of the times, it became hard for many of the immigrants to escape this one “single story.” Assimilating to the United States was the difficult part of coming to this country, but getting jobs wasn’t so difficult. However, it came with a price.
In this research, we talk about discrimination in the United States due to Spanish. First, we add some anecdote of Mexican immigrants and their first encounter with English language, after that, we will explain the lack of knowledge between Americans with Spanish. Also, we are going to present the social rejection to Spanish language use and facts that ensure that language is a target of discrimination. At the end, we will talk about the children of Mexican immigrants and how they live with this kind of the discrimination. In the annex, we add the outcomes of the survey that we made.
A few years after my great grandparents immigrated to the United States, they opened a corner store on the South Side of Chicago. With their store, they not only provided for their family of six children but they also employed other Mexican immigrants. Eventually they were able to open more stores which helped even more. Since they lived in a neighborhood made up of many other Hispanic immigrants, they felt comfortable holding onto and expressing their Mexican Culture. My great-grandparents did not make many attempts to assimilate to the American Culture as they spoke mostly Spanish and very little English. Their children were raised with Spanish as their first language and they did not learn English until they entered school. Although my great-grandparents held on to their Mexican Culture, their children did not. Their children made many efforts to become Americanized with their cloths, speech, and customs. As a result of this, my cousins and I do not know Spanish and we do not
Growing up, Spanish and English were spoken at home. My mom never pushed a language on me; she more often than not just reflected what language I was speaking. From a young age, I developed an affinity for speaking English. I was hearing it in the classroom and around my neighborhood and I began to associate Spanish with shame and otherness. I strove to speak more and more English at home. My mother would speak to me in Spanish and I would solely respond in English. Uprooted from my predominately Latinx neighborhood to a predominately white neighborhood, I felt I needed to be different, be “whiter” to fit in. My ability to speak Spanish in my childhood was one of my main connections to my culture. I used it to contradict the color of my skin, to feel accepted as a Puerto Rican woman. In a predominantly Latinx neighborhood in the Bronx, Spanish allowed me to tap into other Latinx cultures and feel a sense of unity amongst my peers, but a simple move thirty minutes north completely changed my experiences with language.
I’ve always been in touch with my heritage and family. Even when I was young, I would go through books on Italian, constantly trying to roll my r’s or mess with the octaves of my still young and developing voice. While many of these memories I am fond of, I do have the occasional flashback of a slimy lump at the back of my throat, stumbling over words and pronunciation in front of patient relatives. Though, from my young studies I learned culture, of language-gaps and the struggle to adapt my then English-speaking self to also an Italian-speaking child, and I gained empathy. Of course, all people experience bilingualism differently, and as a white American I rarely received disappointed or violent backlash. For political writers like Martin Espada, and Robert Rodriguez, both have situations which are distinct from my own, and describe from two different points of view in being Latino and Spanish-speaking in America.
In “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School”, Martin Espada conveys that bilingualism must be protected, cherished, and celebrated. He states, “‘I have never met a single person who didn’t want to learn English. What they want to do is retain their own language, culture, and identity.’”(Espada 9), because he knows bilingual people only want to preserve their own culture, language, and identity rather than destroy English. Even though a person immigrates to an English speaking country, they still have the right to retain their native language. He says, “A Latino parent called us and said: ‘Please come over to Lynn English High School. They have banned Spanish at lunchtime.’”(Espada 7). According to Espada, English speakers become paranoid around people
My mother, a proud Peruvian, did her best to raise me with her native tongue and surround me with her Hispanic culture. My father, coming from Canadian Immigrants, believed that the state on my certificate bounded me to a culture I was just pale enough for; this family insisted that English was my native tongue. It was a forbidden love, between the Spanish language and myself. This tragic romance began with Elementary school; I was discouraged to practice a language that didn’t associate with my color or neighborhood. From kindergarten, I grew up hesitant to learn my mother’s tongue. I was too pale, my vowels were too harsh. I wasn’t a true Peruvian. I was made to feel as if I did not have the right to claim the Spanish language as my own. Language has a major presence in cultures, having the ability to communicate with others who may see and experience the world differently is valuable. In academic settings, curiosity and communication are meant to blossom; language should not be classified or restricted to one’s race, heritage or surroundings.
In today’s day and age, English has become the go-to language above all others as the preferred form of communication around the world. As a second generation American, growing up with a primarily Anglophone population and peer group, I was not able to practice my second language as much as my parents would have liked. Since English was all I used in school for reading, writing, and communicating, my knowledge of the Spanish language began to wither throughout my school career. Unfortunately, the school systems in the United States prioritize “core” classes (such as math and sciences) over foreign language classes—they’re not seen as essential, but certainly nice to have around. According to current research, students are being taught foreign languages at the wrong time, if at all, by schools in the United States. This causes students to not reap in the benefits of knowing a second language earlier in life that extend beyond communication itself. Being bilingual is associated with numerous advantages and immeasurable benefits that affect all aspects of life, including: improved cognitive function, tolerance, open-mindedness, etc., which proves that acquiring a second language through learning should be implemented earlier on in life, when learning is at its peak due to brain plasticity.
For example, my family where Spanish has been the primary and dominant language in our family things began to change when the first generation of English learner was using English more frequently. A couple years back some of my cousins were sitting at the kitchen table and began to speak English among themselves until one of my uncles snapped, “At the kitchen table you are to speak Spanish you can speak English all you want outside.” His comment became a norm at our gatherings and whenever we were at his house. What seemed to be his intention was to keep Spanish as the main language around the family and keep that fundamental source of communication between the adults and children. The older generation of the family were only Spanish speakers and understood little to no English, with the